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Vader FX saber - defect?

I just got my saber the other day and have to say that I am pretty pleased. The light up and sound effects were really cool. The only thing I'm wondering about is the sound effect gyros. It seems like they do their job 80% of the time, but I've noticed that , especially when held straight up, they are overly sensitive to even very slight movement but don't register at all at times when swung in just one direction. Has anyone else experienced this, or do I have a defective saber?

Reply from Master Replicas

I called MR the other day and talked to a customer service rep who said that they had been giving replacements to customers who complained about the same problem, but they have decided to stop this as it is in fact a problem with the new saber being overly sensitive and that it interupts itself when a new motion is detected. I also noticed that when it it held with the clear buttons held facing you (horizontally or vertically) it takes an awful lot for it to make any swinging sounds. I would have sent mine back, except that it seems this is a universal problem.

Well at least your saber makes noise. I got Anakin's saber for X-mas last year and it now takes a full swing at something in order to give me the clashing saber sound. Obviously I'm not going to smack it around to get it to produce the SFX but I'm surprised that it doesn't work as well anymore because I hardly ever mess with it and when I did I was always very careful.

I did have one question about the Vader saber though. I guess you'd need to have Anakin's or Luke's to draw a comparison but is the sound on Vader's saber different than the others?

Talk Show Host Interviewing Joker: “Your said to have only killed about 600 people Joker. Now don’t take this the wrong way but I think you’ve been holding out on us.”

It's possible the contacts that cause the saber to make noises when you swing it around have gotten corroded or dirty or something like that, that's what happened to some of the Furbies and Furby Yodas out there.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Perhaps the swing gyro in mine is more delicate than others, but my problem is I can't stop it from making many multiple swinging noises with little movement. In either event I've taken it apart and am going to use a (far superior, in my opinion) swing gyro out of the Anakin saber to fix it. Also, The clash gyro in the vader saber may be better but I didn't want to use it as I'd have to do some tricky soldering to replace it, although having read Hellboys post I may end up doing that as the anakin clash gyro is a LOT sturdier and therfore less sensitive than the vader one. They really are not as complicated on the inside as I thought they would be. Very interesting, the differences in engineering between the two. I have high hopes for futer sabers, if they continue to improve on them as they have.

P.S. as for sound differences, I understand both the Anakin and Luke sabers make four different clashing noises, whereas the vader saber only makes one - true to form for the sound effects it made in ANH. I also understand that the vader saber is louder.

So, all of the Vader sabers are defective, and that's just the way it is?

Just got mine for Christmas, and the on and off effects and sounds are awesome - even my girlfriend thinks they're cool. However, as has been mentioned, the swinging sounds are very unpredictable - half the time, when you swing the saber, there is no swing sound, and then you can hold it still and it makes swinging sounds constantly.

MR has just decided not to do anything about this? Can't say I'm impressed with that if it is their customer service policy on this piece.

I got the Vader FX saber for Christmas today and I'm pretty impressed with it. The lighting works perfectly and and definatly loud enough. It makes a few swing sounds when you just hold it now and them but all-in-all I'm happy with it. I really like that stand that it comes with it!

"Maybe I can help you. I am Boba Fett. The ship you seek is nearby." -Boba Fett

I also got one for xmas, it's a great piece, I couldn't recommend it highly enough. Mine reacts similar to what's been said in this thread, though not as extreme as what it sounds like some of you have. Since the piece is so great in every other resepct, especially how faithful the hilt is in comparison to the other FX saber handles (and how stuff like the Furby & Yoda Furby's saber act along the same lines), I really don't mind.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Well I got one for X-mas as well and visually I'm very impressed with 2 exceptions. In comparison to Anakin's FX saber the hilt is about an inch shorter and the blade is about 1.5 inches shorter making it 2.5 inches shorter overall. I'm not sure why they did this but I noticed the length difference even before my side by side comparison. I also noticed that Anakin's saber is also notably heavier than Vader's for some reason. The sensitivity is a major issue with mine as it makes swinging/clashing noises if you move it even the slightest bit. I'm planning on contacting MR about getting a replacement or instructions on how to adjust it because I don't even like turning it on the way it is now. It's really annoying.

On the plus side the sound FX are excellent and the red blade and hilt detail are amazing. One improvement they made over Anakin's saber is that the tip lights up when looking down on it. If anyone has Anakin's saber as well maybe you could tell me if your tip lights up because I'm starting to think mine might have been defective and I was unaware of it all this time. Overall a good product that could have been great if more time was spent on the sensitivity issue.

Talk Show Host Interviewing Joker: “Your said to have only killed about 600 people Joker. Now don’t take this the wrong way but I think you’ve been holding out on us.”